5 Reasons Why You Should Put Career Breaks on LinkedIn
Abhijit Bhaduri
Talent Development Expert || Ex-GM Global L&D, Microsoft || Top 10 most sought after evangelist for brands like Adobe & SHRM || Keynote Speaker || 6x Author || LinkedIn Top Voice
62%?of employees have taken a break at some point in their professional career. Most employers shy away from hiring candidates with career breaks and most applicants hide it.?Do men get away with it more easily?
Let us look at 3 triggers for careers breaks: Career transitions; life transitions and for caregiving.
#careerbreaks - think of it as a HAPPINESS FILTER
Lifetime employment is a thing of the past
The average life span of businesses is reducing. They merge, fail and get acquired. The employees are impacted in every such move. Job descriptions are fluid and layoffs are more common than you think. These changes are involuntary.
People will have to take frequent breaks for upskilling. As people live longer, the need to stay relevant may see career breaks becoming even more common.
20% hiring managers say they will reject a candidate that took a break
Ignore the 20%
20%?of hiring managers say they would reject a candidate that took a break. This is a sign of an organizations whose leaders are still living in the past. They will struggle to attract top talent especially among millennials. Besides, 80% of the hiring managers accept career breaks as reality. Ignore the 20% who discriminate. <read more >
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84 percent of millennials foresee taking significant breaks during their career.?
Why you should add 'career breaks' on LinkedIn - 5 reasons
2. It is a "happiness filter": Your stating it on LinkedIn will weed out employers whose mindset will make you unhappy. Use this as a "happiness filter".
3. Career breaks energise you: Fatigue and burnout are signs that you need a break. Career breaks do for our career, what sleep does for a tired body. It is a chance to match our skills, opportunities and dreams.
4. Gender agnostic "Returnships" are in vogue : The #greatresignation has forced employers to broaden their definition of a talent pool. Returnship programmes have evolved over time from being smaller cohorts to being not just bigger and virtual, but also gender-agnostic cohorts.?<read more >
5. It impacts men as much as women: Men and women may vary in their reason for taking a Career Break, but it is becoming the norm everywhere. So go ahead and add your career break to your LinkedIn profile.
How should you navigate your career after a break <read this >
BONUS: How to add a Career Break on your LinkedIn Profile
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1 年Is utilizing this feature and selecting the reason (layoff/position eliminated) likely to negatively impact profile views? Is there any data available to help users make more informed decisions on updating their profiles in a manner that is more likely to increase recruiter traffic and engagement rather than reduce it? I'd love to see LI profiles be more easily optimizable for job-seekers. I am grateful for the effort LinkedIn is making to destigmatize career breaks/transitions, being human, etc.
Senior Site Architect | Projects management and control | Architecture & Fitout | Real Estate & Construction | Retails Delivery
2 年Thanks for sharing ??
Chief People Officer @ NOFILTR.GROUP | Human Resources | Creator Economy | Culture
2 年Very True Abhijit Bhaduri. Yet, unfortunately putting a career break on LinkedIn or your Resume is still looked down upon by many recruiters/hiring managers. Most of my clients still refuse to acknowledge publicly that they took a break in their professional journey. They always almost insist to mention the break period as a freelance phase "exploring their inner entrepreneur". Hoping this trend changes and people are more accepting of folks taking a career break.
Company Secretary
2 年So well said live fearlessly, world will adjust to it
Current- EY Parthenon Investments and growth across Technology, Media & Entertainment. Past - Media planning. Marketing. Market Development. Business Planning. Passion - Startup mentoring. Social Impact. Sustainability.
2 年Hi Abhijit, Thank you for calling this out and espousing the cause with this post. The irony of people, especially women, who are experienced, brilliant at what they do, and may have years of great work and leadership to contribute to any organsation, are lost to the corporates simply because people do not think breaks are kosher. I hope you'll do another one on older women. Think of a 40 something; empty nester - able, hungry, capable, with no distractions in life. that is solid gold. I'm perplexed at the fact that all these organisations that are struggling to find talent, don't jump at an opportunity to employ these women. Surely skill gaps can be plugged and the mature, empathetic leadership that an older woman brings to the table is very very handy. with a decade (or two) of time they can give to an organisation, i'd think they'd be in high demand! I have a business idea for you - and happy to collaborate to bring it to life ?? - a talent acquisition - placement consultancy only for older women returning to work after a break. of course i'd be our first client ??